Lausanne-Sport play host to Winterthur on Sunday as they look to get their Swiss Super League campaign off to a winning start.
After finishing in fifth position during 2024-25, there will be real ambition for the home side to build on that achievement and challenge for the higher European qualification places.
Meanwhile, Winterthur only avoided relegation to the second tier last season by one point, and not losing on the opening weekend would represent success for the visitors.
How the bookies see it: Value in a double-chance?
As expected, Lausanne are viewed as the 4/6 favourites by Boylesports, helped by already having a competitive game under their belts.
That is despite Peter Zeidler's side succumbing to a 2-1 defeat to North Macedonian outfit FK Vardar on away territory in the first leg of their Conference League second qualifying round tie on Thursday night.
Meanwhile, the draw and a Winterthur victory are both priced at 11/4. The double chance involving those two outcomes is 21/20.
Head to head: An even historical match-up
Across the last 35 competitive encounters between these two clubs, there have been 14 wins apiece and the seven draws.
Lausanne boast the better goalscoring record with 64 strikes to 56, but that is a marginal advantage over that amount of games.
In the last four fixtures, Lausanne and Winterthur have recorded two wins each, Winterthur most recently prevailing 1-0 in their home league contest in April.
When these teams last met at Stade de la Tuiliere in October, Lausanne recorded a 2-0 triumph.
Players to watch: New signings to make immediate impact?
Gaoussou Diakite has recently signed for Lausanne on loan from Red Bull Salzburg and scored on his competitive debut on Thursday.
Although the 19-year-old is yet to make his senior debut for the Austrian giants, 13 strikes and seven assists for second-tier club FC Leifering suggests that he has the potential to become a star man for Lausanne this season.
With Antoine Baroan having departed Winterthur during the summer transfer window, they are hoping that Brian Beyer steps up from his time in the second tier in 2024-25.
The 28-year-old contributed nine goals and four assists from just 16 appearances for FC Biel-Bienne.
Predicted lineups: Former Arsenal striker to stay on bench?
Beyatt Lekweiry and Konrad de la Fuente were both introduced as half-time substitutes for Lausanne in midweek and are pushing for a start here.
Nathan Butler-Oyedeji recently left Arsenal for Lausanne, but the forward may have to make do with a spot among the replacements.
Winterthur could line up with the same team that cruised to a 5-0 victory over Freiburg II in their final pre-season friendly last weekend.
Although Theo Golliard has been signed from Young Boys in the build-up to this fixture, the playmaker may only feature as a substitute at best.
Lausanne-Sport: Letica; Mouanga, Dussenne, Okoh, Poaty; NDiaye, Roche; Custodio, Ajdini, Diakite; Sene
Winterthur: Spagnoli; Sidler, Durrer, Arnold, Sahitaj; Stillhart, Cueni; Holder, Schneider, Beyer; Gomis
Anything else catch the eye?
Winterthur came through their pre-season schedule unbeaten in five matches, a period which included a 1-1 draw at Swiss Super League champions Basel.
A total of 17 goals were scored from their five matches, albeit the level of the other opposition needing to be taken into consideration.
Including friendlies and competitive games, Lausanne have conceded 11 times in their four outings.
Despite Conference League opponents FK Vardar having two competitive games under their belt prior to beating Lausanne on Thursday, they had previously been held to a 2-2 draw by a team from international minnows San Marino.
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